The Batman AU I'll Never Finish
by Ray by Another Name
Summary: The question is: How does the Batfamily come together if Bruce never became Batman? With a few more coincidences and a lot less deaths. A Batfam AU. An Everybody Lives AU! Slight Selena/Bruce, mentions Bruce/Talia.
1. The Synopsis

The question is: How does the Batfamily come together if Bruce never became Batman? With a few more coincidences and a lot less deaths.

This first chapter is, essentially, a synopsis of what would be a much, much longer fic. One that I'll probably never actually write to it's potential, but that I would love to write one-shots for.

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**The Synopsis**

The story starts the same. Martha and Thomas Wayne are killed, Bruce sees it happen. It's a defining moment in shaping who Bruce Wayne is, who he becomes. Which is to say, Bruce is still a commitment-phobic playboy with a heart of gold, he's just also a ruthless businessman man and philanthropist whose smile brings terror to the hearts of the corrupt.

Batman is never born.

The Martha Wayne Foundation and Wayne Industries prosper under the strong hold of their young captain. The tabloids call him Brucie as a joke and he mocks them in his interviews right back. It's the most stable relationship he has, outside Alfred of course.

When he watches the Flying Graysons fall, Bruce sees himself in the orphan left behind. There is no version of Bruce Wayne that doesn't offer Dick Grayson a home. He's too young to be his father, but he gives it his all.

Dick Grayson goes to all the best schools, knows all the influential people, and has every opportunity and privilege afforded to him as Bruce's son. When he's 18, he joins the Bludhaven PD - to make a difference, to serve justice, to make all of his parents proud. He is…confused…when he comes home to find another young orphan in Bruce's house.

Bruce finds Jason with a tire iron in hand, stealing the last tire off his limo. The boy has a chip on his shoulder and a glint in his eyes. Bruce takes him for burgers. He's not as young as when Dick came into his house, but he's still not old enough to be a father. Jason doesn't seem to mind much.

Jason goes to the same schools that Dick had. Dick stumbles and starts through brotherhood - Jason does mind that. He's rough around the edges in all the ways that Dick was soft and the Gotham Elite will never accept him. Bruce quickly learns why parenting two children is harder than one and thanks the heavens he never had any siblings.

Tim Drake is an observant child, only a little younger than Jason, and it is due to both of their earlier upbringings they end up in the same class. Once a stalker, always a stalker, but Jason catches on when Tim fumbles with a book in the library. The ensuing confrontation does not go as Jason expects.

"I thought you were cool." "Me?!" "Yeah. You're always reading a different book and your essay on Jane Austen was enlightened." "…how did you read my essay-" "I have a spy camera."

The friendship worries Bruce, but not nearly so much as the Drakes constant absence. The guest room next to Jason's bedroom holds more of Tim's things than the room he has at home and Alfred puts his name on the chore chart within a month.

Jason and Tim are sixteen when they decide to investigate the mask vigilantes of Gotham. Tim has a spy camera after all and it would be a shame to waste. As long as they're home by midnight Alfred won't rat them out to Bruce.

It takes two weeks to figure out that the ferocious Red Angel is actually Bruce's cousin Kate. Jason spends twenty minutes trying to figure out how he missed it before - she'd once skipped out on a Rosh Hashana celebration to fight the Joker! Really, he should've known. Tim laughs at him for another five before Kate calls Bruce. He is unamused.

They never do manage to find the Oracle, but they catch glimpes of the Birds of Prey and they literally stumble into the Spoiler. Stephanie Brown gives them all she's got on the Cluemaster and they publish it in the school paper. Her dad's back in jail within the week.

Bruce demand to meet their source. He looks Steph up and down, sighs, and then steps out to make a phone call. When Spoiler steps back out into the world of vigilant crime fighting, she's got training and a direct line to the Birds of Prey. Even Catwoman gives her some advice.

When Bruce is considering a deal with Luther Corp a reporter shows up on his doorstep (or more accurately, in his kitchen) with a dossier on Lex. The deal is dropped and the Daily Planet gets an exclusive look at the Wayne family - by now working on its fourth child after Bruce notices a young girl following him in the rain. Bruce's body language is distinct, no matter the universe.

The League of Assassins sent Talia to infiltrate Wayne Industries years previously. She caught Bruce at an off-time with Selina. When she pops back up with a little boy, Cassandra is there to recognize her.

"My father has ill-intentions, I believe he will be safer with you."

Talia's words ring true in Bruce's ears and in Cassandra's eyes, so Bruce hires a security team with a roster bigger than the Gotham Guardsmen's football team. Jason and Tim each get a lineman at college, much to their annoyance. Dick just points at his badge when Bruce offers him protection as well.

When an assassin gets too close for comfort, Bruce caves and makes the call. A reporter and a hacker, together they know every superhero on the planet.

Three weeks after Damian's ninth birthday Bruce gets word that the Thomas', who'd once saved his life during Hurricane Rene, have died and their son is in foster care. By now, Bruce's attorney just keeps the adoption forms in his top drawer.

Duke is hesitant at first, but Cassandra assures him the house has been too quiet. He asks Alfred about her hearing after the first week. The butler laughs.

"Miss Cassandra is not wrong, Master Thomas, with Jason away at school during the week and Tim at the penthouse three days a week, it is much quieter than it was."

Chanukah that year is practically a full ball, even with just immediate family and friends.

"I say we blame Dick," Jason shouts, "He's the one that invited the capes." Dick is suddenly aware that he never answered Tim and Jason's email about the vigilantes in Bludhaven. His life flashes before his eyes as Jason introduces himself to Kori and Roy.

When Selina and Bruce (finally!) tie the knot, bets are made as to when the next kid will drop (and where they will come from). Alfred wins and everyone is too distracted by baby Helena to ask how he knew Selina would be giving birth six months after the wedding.

The Daily Planet does another exclusive a few years later. Clark has stopped asking how Bruce meets his kids - no one really seems to care anymore anyway - but he does ask for the Wayne parenting book.

"Lois is expecting again ya see, and all your kids seem so happy. Not to mentioned the 22 year old COO." "Dick just made Captain too." "Seriously, does Alfred slip something in the cookies?"

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Reviews Appreciated!


	2. Smug: Tim & Jason

The question is: How does the Batfamily come together if Bruce never became Batman? With a few more coincidences and a lot less deaths.

Tim and Jason start plotting for the rest of their lives.

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**Smug**

Gotham City University had many auspicious graduates. The only one Jason knows of when he enrolls is Harley Quinn. Which, hey, she is technically a doctor, so Jason decides to do a psych minor.

"That's…a reason I suppose." Tim is majoring in computer science and business, which Jason rolls his eyes at immediately. They're sitting in Jason's room, department pamphlets galore spread out on his bed.

"Bruce said I can major in whatever I'm interested in," Jason shrugged, then pinned Tim with a look. "He offered the same to you too."

Tim shakes his head, "My dad wants to pay for it."

"He also wants you to study business," Jason grumbled, "You could drop that to focus on computer science if you took Bruce up on his offer."

Tim pursed his lips. It was tempting, but… "The business degree will have it's uses." Jason blinked. "What?"

"That was ominous, Tim." Jason patted the younger man's head, "You're very creepy." Jason leaned back on his bed, lacing his fingers behind his head, "Are you a Jekyll or a Frankenstein today?"

Tim rolled his eyes and pulled the business b.a. pamphlet from beneath Jason's foot. He waved it at him, "Gatsby."

"That is not better." Jason chuckles and then holds up a pamphlet for the graduate college, "But I've got my own crazy scheme, so I won't judge."

Three years later, Tim takes an internship at Wayne Industries and Jason enrolls in an accelerated masters program in literature. They exchange smirks as they accept their diplomas.

"Do I want to know why they look so smug?" Bruce asks Alfred in a whisper as they sit in the crowd of parents. Alfred pats him on the shoulder.

"The answer to that is the same as always, Master Bruce."

Bruce shakes his head, "Probably not." He smiles broader and applauds politely for the other students walking the line.

Tim accepts the COO position for Wayne's Research and Development branch at 22. Jason is 24 and half way through both his Ph.D and his second novel. Bruce knows what the smirks were for then.

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	3. Bruce Wayne: Behind the Suit by Clark Ke

The question is: How does the Batfamily come together if Bruce never became Batman? With a few more coincidences and a lot less deaths.

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**Bruce Wayne: Behind the Suit by Clark Kent**

Bruce Wayne, 43, is one the juggernauts of the business world. Wayne Industries has flourished under his direction these last twenty years. It tops the Forbes lists every year. The Martha Wayne Foundation (MWF), a philanthropic fund, is Bruce's priority by his own admission. The MWF donates money to every crisis in Gotham, from the latest Joker debacle to paving goals in the Bowery.

"Every cause is important and deserves Gotham's full attention."

In recent years the MWF has created scholarship funds for bright and hardworking students from at needs neighborhoods. This endeavour came at the urging of of one of Bruce's sons, Jason, 22. Jason spent the first eleven years of his life in the Park Row neighborhood, often referred to as Crime Alley by Gothamites. The MWF scholarship funds started five years ago, the same year that Jason and his best friend, Timothy Drake, 20, started school at Gotham City University.

The first recipient of one of these scholarships was one Stephanie Brown, 21, who cites the scholarship as "one of the best things that has ever happened to [her]". Brown was born, raised, and proudly still recides in the Bowery neighborhood on the East End of Gotham. She is balancing a major in Criminal Justice and a rigorous pre-med program.

"My goal is to work at the Thomas Wayne Memorial Clinic someday. That place saved my life and it's only right I return the favor for other kids in the neighborhood."

Bruce Wayne stated that Stephanie Brown was an easy pick for the inaugural scholarship as she encompassed everything his mother and father wanted for Gotham. Brown has since served as a mentor and advisor to the students selected for the program.

Outside of business and philanthropy, Bruce Wayne is best known as a father. He took in Richard 'Dick' Grayson, now 30, when the boy was 9. Bruce himself was only 22 at the time and it was another eight years before he adopted Dick legally. Since then Bruce has adopted three other children - Jason, Cassandra, 19, and Duke, 16. He also has two biological children - Damian, 13, and Helena, 6 months.

Grayson joked that he was surprised Bruce knew how to have children the old-fashioned way. Bruce himself has stated countless times that he treats every child that walks into Wayne Manor as his own.

"Everyone deserves a safe and loving home, if I can provide that, for even a short amount of time, I will."

This a sentiment his new bride, Selina Kyle, 38, also shares. The two have had an on-again, off-again relationship for the last ten years, but she only agreed to marry him when Bruce adopted Duke.

"He hadn't seen the kid in eight years, but the second he heard about Elaine and Doug, Bruce was on the phone calling in favors to find him. That was the moment I knew."

When asked if his family was now complete, Bruce laughed.

"If you had asked me at 20 what my life would look like, I would have predicted exactly zero percent of what has happened, and I wouldn't trade my life for anything."

As both Gotham and the Wayne family, seemingly intrinsically linked, continue to grow, they will also continue to leave their mark on each other.

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